Margus Hunt came to SMU as an elite track-and-field athlete. He’s still an elite athlete, but he’s traded the discus and shot put for football pads, and he’ll leave the school as an early-round NFL draft pick.

Hunt, a 6-8, 275-pound monster from Estonia with 4.6 40 speed and incredible strength, hadn’t played football before arriving in Dallas. But he walked on as a freshman and made an immediate special-teams impact—he blocked seven kicks that season, one short of the NCAA record—and has developed into a nearly unstoppable defensive end.

Hunt took a few minutes from his summer training program to talk with Sporting News.

SN: I’ve got to admit, I’m curious. For a guy who’s as tall as you are and strong and fast as you are, was there a thought of trying to play basketball at SMU instead of football?

Hunt: (laughs) Well, I played basketball in high school, just mostly for fun. We had our own little school team. Basketball didn’t actually occur to me at SMU. I wasn’t a good big guy, I’m just tall, and I would make a couple shots here and there. Nothing spectacular.

SN: But you had zero football experience, and that’s turned out well.

Hunt: Yeah, but in football I didn’t have to try and make 3-pointers or try to guard people. Football was kind of an easier choice, and it’s worked out.

SN: You were named No. 1 on CBSSports.com’s list of freak athletes in college football. What’s that been like for you?

Hunt: It’s fun. I didn’t know it was going to happen that way. I remember the phone call and we had the discussion, remember doing the interview, but didn’t know that he was going to put me on the top of the list. It’s definitely a cool honor. All I have to do is live up to that now. Now it’s all about making plays.

SN: Tell me about the art of blocking a kick.

Hunt: Well, the most important thing is to try and get off the ball as quickly as possible because then you can catch the offensive line off guard, and by the time they get back you’ll be already halfway between (the linemen). Then, it’s all about planting your feet and pushing forward and trying to separate them and getting through there.

SN: Is there a difference between practice and playing a team sport as opposed to something that’s more individual, like track and field?

Hunt: When I look back, I’ve always been better when I’ve had a team, maybe not a hundred-member team, around me, just people to compete against, to practice with. That was with track and field, too. I always tried to practice with other people, and we always had a little competition going on during practices. We pushed each other, and that was kind of like the team aspect even though it was a smaller group. With football, there’s more athletes, better athletes, so that definitely has elevated my game.

SN: Where does your track-and-field career stand right now?

Hunt: Currently it’s on hold. Last year, I had the shoulder surgery and that took last year’s season out of the picture, and then after the bowl game this year, we decided to stick with football. We had the situation in Estonia where, for the Olympics, one country can only send three people for one event, and the unique situation there is we already have three guys qualified for the Olympics. Currently, I would be fourth, or even fifth. There are a couple of good young guys coming up. It would have been really tough for me to qualify, especially having the year off. So I decided to stick with football and make the most of it.

SN: Is that something you ever see yourself going back to?

Hunt: We’ll see. I mean, I’m trying to just take it day-by-day right now and just focus on the season and see where it leads and go from there. If that’s a possibility, or there’s an opportunity for me to go back and throw, I would definitely try to make something out of it because I still like that kind of competition.

SN: Do you ever think back on how dramatically different your future is now than when you first got to SMU?

Hunt: Oh yeah, definitely. In some ways, it’s still hard to believe what’s happened the past four years, how quickly things can change. I’m trying to make the most out of whatever I do, and that’s all I can control.